No cancer, yet AIIMS removes woman's breast

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE: Kumud Devi had been diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2008.

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Keywords: Medical Negligence, Biopsy

New Delhi: A woman was given a mastectomy at India’s prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) but her post-surgery biopsy has revealed the tissue had no cancer.

45-year-old Kumud Devi, from Motihari, Bihar, underwent the procedure on her right breast in March 2008 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

But just as she was recovering from the shock of losing of one of her breasts came another rude shock.

Her post-surgery pathology report of the removed tissue revealed she didn't have breast cancer. The report came just 10 days after her surgery.

“I was speechless. I only cried, I did not have cancer and I was operated upon,” Kumud Devi says.

It has been a struggle for her family to get justice. Her son was unable to take his post-graduate examinations because of his mother's condition.

The family wants compensation for the negligence on the part of AIIMS.

“I want the government to compensate for the loss of her breast and the time lost during this period,” Kumud Devi’s son Vikas Pandey said.

While AIIMS is unwilling to accept that Kumud was wrongly diagnosed with breast cancer, they say the fault could lie with the post pathology report.

“There could have been a mix-up during the transportation of the tissue,” AIIMS Spokesperson Y K Gupta says.

So if there were a mix-up then there are chances that some other patient too is undergoing wrong treatment. Surely AIIMS authorities have a lot to answer, before they can come out clean.